


Take a bite (if you dare)

by leejenowo



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Fluff, M/M, Vampires, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-22 23:07:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18537322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leejenowo/pseuds/leejenowo
Summary: Mark doesn't want to break the promise he made to himself, but Jeno smells so good.





	Take a bite (if you dare)

**Author's Note:**

> Sal can't read this unless she admits she's baby. Markno nation is off limit to her until further notice.
> 
> PS: this has not been beta-ed lol

Mark Lee doesn’t regret a lot of things and it’s something his 270 years old self is really proud of. Not many of his family members can brag about this, especially not eternally 25 years _young_ Yuta who has had multiple centuries to wreak havoc in different countries. Though Mark likes to think he has never done any wrong, he can’t help but think about how turning Jeno was definitely not his best idea.

 

He loves Jeno, he’s absolutely head over heels for the guy. Jeno is charming and quite charismatic ― there’s no way you can say no to him ― and Mark is glad they had met. Believe it or not, being immortal gets boring after your first century ― and he’s happy he won’t have to spend the next decades alone. Jeno knows about Mark ― it’s not like the older even tried to hide the fact that he’s a vampire ― and the clan knows about Jeno.

 

Mark’s family isn’t exactly hiding. All of them have jobs ― except Taeil, but that’s because he got fired for telling his boss to suck his dick when he tried giving him more hours ― and they live in an average house. No castle, no dark basement, no cemetery. Not all movie and tv shows depict the vampire life accurately. The only thing they got right is the fact that vampires can’t go into the sunlight without getting severely burned. If it wasn’t for his sun protection charm, Mark would have fried a long time ago.

 

That charm is actually how he met Jeno. Every 50 years, vampires in the pack have to get the charm again, kind of like when you get a color tattoo and have to get it redone after a couple of years because it’s starting to fade a bit. It just so happened that Mark knew a couple of young witches and decided to visit their coven.

 

There isn’t a lot of things to be ashamed of when you’re over 250 years old, but Mark suddenly feels self-conscious when the prettiest boy he’s seen in the past century comes into the room that day. He’s shirtless because the ritual apparently requires that, at least according to Chenle and YangYang who had led him into the room, and he suddenly feels the need to hide his body in some way. Turns out his friends were right and he did have to be shirtless for the whole thing so he at least knows they didn’t just mess with him in hopes that he would embarrass himself.

 

That day, he ended up learning that the guy’s name is Jeno and he, along with Kun and Sicheng, came up with a new way to protect vampires. Thanks to a couple of years of research and what they referred to as ‘trial’ (Mark didn’t want to know what would happen if it failed, he was just glad that it did work), they had managed to create a permanent charm that would protect any vampire from the UV rays. The magic is contained within a tattoo designed by Ten and after Jeno was done, the vampire’s back was marked with a sun between his shoulder blades. The charm would be effective as long as the tattoo was intact and the possibility of Mark getting hurt at that exact spot was low enough to consider it a safe bet.

 

(Mark later learns that Donghyuck and Xiaojun actually tried to convince Jeno to tattoo the vampire with his phone number but he refused. Mark thought it would have been quite funny and so did the rest of the coven and his clan, but Jeno’s face gets red whenever the subject is brought up because of how embarrassing it would have been for Mark to walk around with a boy’s number written on his back.)

 

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

 

It’s not the last time Mark and Jeno meet. For some mysterious reason (read: Taeyong and Jungwoo meddling with his love life), Mark suddenly finds himself running errands for the clan. And the worse thing is that Mark gets more and more excited to do those errands.

 

With a little push from Jaehyun, Mark ends up mustering enough courage to ask Jeno on their first date. It’s embarrassing and quite awkward because, well, Mark hasn’t been on a date in over a century and Jeno has never been on a date… ever.

 

They go to the movie theatre to watch what ends up being the most boring comedy movie they’ve ever seen before going to the bar. It’s not a real bar, at least not at first glance, and Mark is embarrassed to order his Bloody Mary — literally a _Bloody Mary._ Jeno doesn’t comment on it at all and just takes a sip of his own drink. He kind of envies him because even though he’s a witch, Jeno still has the same bodily constitution as normal humans. Vampires like Mark don’t have blood running through their veins, at least not their own, and therefore they can’t get drunk. It’s something Mark kind of misses.

 

Another thing vampires can’t do is blush, but Mark finds himself heating up ― at least that’s what he remembers blushing feels like ― when Jeno reaches out to wipe some of the blood at the corner of his lips.

 

It’s at that moment, when they’re looking at each other with that look that Mark can’t explain, that he realizes Jeno will become someone really important to him.

 

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

 

Still, Mark is an old vampire and an even older soul ― at least according to Johnny. He might have the newest iPhone model, but when it comes to love, he’s kind of old school. Despite knowing that what he has with Jeno is real and almost tangible, he can’t help but want to do this the right way. The rest of the clan laughed at him when he told them he was gonna court Jeno ― because ‘no one does that anymore’ ― but Mark wouldn’t hear any of it.

 

Even after going on multiple dates, Mark wouldn’t go further than holding hands and occasionally hugging Jeno on the doorstep of the coven’s house. Most teenagers usually wouldn’t even wait before quickly moving on with the relationship, but Mark wasn’t a teenager anymore, even though his body kind of was, and even after living for decades, he still wasn’t good at being… intimate. Mark only allowed himself to kiss Jeno after he formally asked Jeno’s coven leaders permission to date him.

 

The whole thing was pretty awkward at first because Mark wasn’t sure how to do it properly ― and there was no way he would ask any of his clan members for help ― and so he ended up going there unprepared with only Jeno in mind.

 

After a lot of laughing on Kun and Ten’s side and a lot of sweating on Mark’s side, they both agreed to let Jeno date him.

 

(Mark found himself pinned to Jeno and Jaemin’s shared bedroom door ― where thankfully, there was no Jaemin ― with the witch’s lips on his own. By the end of the night, their lips were swollen and Mark’s neck was bruised like a bunch of vampires had fed on him.)

 

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

 

It didn’t take long for Jeno to figure out that Mark was a sucker (no pun intended) for neck kisses. It was a weird experience for both of them at first and Mark’s friend made sure to make it even more awkward for both of them by whistling every time Mark walked by with a new bite on his neck, whispering about how he looked more like a prey than the predator he should be. The youngest vampire just scowls at them when they comment on it. It’s kind of weird for him too but he likes it and it’s not like Jeno complains about it either.

 

They’ve talked about it before actually, about turning Jeno into a vampire, but the perfect moment never came up. And there’s also the fact that Mark is absolutely terrified of hurting Jeno in any way.

 

Still, it’s something that Jeno brings up occasionally when Mark disappears for hours in the middle of the night and comes back with hazy eyes and smelling like someone else. Jeno has offered him an easy and quick way to get blood, but Mark refuses categorically every time the subject is brought up — all because of that dumb promises he made to himself.

 

And so far so good. His many centuries of experience allow Mark to control himself around his boyfriend, even when Jeno accidentally hurts himself. It has happened a couple of times already, a simple moment of distraction, and Jeno ends up with his finger tightly wrapped up in bandages. Mark praises himself for being able to control himself that day.

 

But he still won’t turn Jeno because the simple idea of making his lover go through what he has to hurts him. He doesn’t want to be the reason why Jeno has to avoid the sun, or why he has to feed exclusively on blood. Or the reason why Jeno will never dream again.

 

Jeno’s premonitions only come to him in the form of dreams and they are the reason why he’s part of his coven now. Mark has never heard of a vampire who dreams, but he’s also never heard of a witch being turned into a vampire. Anyways, he just doesn’t want to risk Jeno’s ability and render him useless for the coven.

 

Sometimes, Mark wishes he could dream of a future, hundreds of years from now, where Jeno brings yet another stray cat into their house and his dumb ass names it Robert Alexander the third because all and every cat that will ever enter their house will be named after the legendary step up dancer.

 

Mark’s resolve is strong up until the time he has Jeno wrapped up in his arms with his face hidden in his neck. He thinks the way he’s pressing his nose against Jeno’s carotid just to feel his pulse is subtle, but his boyfriend knows. And when he asks Mark why he’s not just doing it, so they can be together for as long as they can, Mark hisses and lets his fangs run over Jeno’s neck.

 

_Breathe in. Breathe out._

 

His fangs retract but he still sucks a bruise under Jeno’s ear, right on the spot that has him go weak in the knees, as a warning to not bring the subject up again.

 

(It has the opposite effect and Jeno cheers to himself in victory when he goes to the bathroom to trace the dark mark on his neck as he imagines what a real bite would feel like. For some reason, he feels closer to spending the rest of eternity with Mark.)

 

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

 

Mark has the habit of doing stupid things out of nowhere and for no reason.

 

He remembers the first time _he_ kissed Jeno after they become official and, as expected, it’s stupid. Jeno has to leave because of the curfew the coven established, but Mark just doesn’t want to part yet. They’ve been hiding from Mark’s clan since Jeno stepped foot into the house, huddled under the blankets of the vampire’s bed. It’s hot under there and they’ve literally been talking for hours, so they’re bound to get sweaty. They actually watched a movie on Mark’s iPad ― Underworld, because it’s the most accurate vampire movie according to Mark ― and now it’s getting late for Jeno. Unfortunately for the witch, Mark has other plans: clinging to his boyfriend’s arm and whining about not wanting him to go. Jeno’s forehead is sweaty and his hair is sticking to it and it’s kind of bothering Mark, but not enough for him to brush his hair off (because sweat is kinda _ew_ ). Jeno is just listening to him ramble on, looking down at Mark with that stupid, stupid, stupid smile. _That_ eye smile that just makes Mark’s un-beating heart melt and for a second, Mark wonders if Jeno can see when his eyes take that crescent moon shape. Without thinking, Mark just leans in to press a kiss on Jeno’s lips and he _hopes_ Jeno actually had his eyes closed because having your first kiss with your eyes opened is probably the most awkward thing in the world.

 

(He kind of forgets that one time in Jeno and Jaemin’s bedroom. That’s what happens with centuries of memories.)

 

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

 

The first time Mark says ‘I love you’ to Jeno is, once again, out of the blue. They’re both studying, Jeno sitting in the middle of his pentagram because he says it helps him channel his energy and Mark half-way off the bed with a book he can’t even understand. It’s stupid, but he lied to Jeno about knowing how to read Chinese once and he can’t find it in himself to tell him the truth. Now, every time he comes over, Kun or Sicheng is shoving a new random book, most likely about herbology since that’s what they both specialize in, and Mark is forced to pretend he’s reading it.

 

At one point, Jeno turns to him and says, “Did you know that I could learn how to enter someone’s dreams eventually? What if I entered yours and―”

 

“Vampires don’t dream Jeno.”

 

“―Or worse, Xuxi’s… What language do you think he dreams in? Also,” Jeno turns back to his book on dreams and premonitions, “I know you can’t read Chinese. Your eyes are going from left to right, but traditional Chinese is written vertically.”

 

Mark is impressed at how attentive Jeno is to every little detail of his daily life and he looks at him in adoration before blurting out a weak ‘I love you’.

 

Jeno laughs at him and does that stupid, stupid, stupid smile of his before replying the same words to him.

 

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

 

It’s not surprising that the first time Mark bites Jeno, it’s also stupid and random. That’s part of the reason why he hates himself so much and he regrets doing it. That’s where the ‘little to no regrets’ part comes in.

 

Not every bite of a vampire can turn someone. Simply feeding on a living person won’t be enough to turn them because no venom is included in the process. If a vampire drinks too much blood, the person just dies and if a vampire injects too much venom, the person can also die because the venom is too powerful. That’s why clans usually don’t let newborn vampires feed on a human: they either can’t control their thirst or can’t control the amount of venom. In European traditionalist clans, newborns are not even allowed to turn humans and only vampires over 300 years old can introduce new members to their clan. Mark’s clan doesn’t care about rules. Jaehyun turned his boyfriend, Jungwoo, into a vampire after they had ‘the talk’ and everyone approved of his decision.

 

Mark doesn’t care about that because he isn’t European nor is he 300 years old, but mostly, he’s really dumb and drunk on Jeno’s scent. He knows what Jeno smells like. They’ve been together for months and Mark has been close enough to his boyfriend to pinpoint exactly what he smells like: sweet like almonds with a hint of fresh linen. It’s something soft and relaxing and Mark likes thinking about that more than how sweet his blood probably is ― he loves A type blood.

 

Today though, Jeno smells different. It’s a mix of spices and old wood and Mark recognizes the scent instantly. It smells like their cellar where Johnny keeps all of the alcohol he can’t drink anymore. They only take a couple of bottles out whenever they have guests over, like right now. They’re celebrating Taeyong’s birthday for the 300th time. Everyone is going around, congratulating him and making jokes about how he’s officially an ‘old’ vampire now. Only Johnny, Taeil and Taeyong are over 300 years old now. It doesn’t change anything for any of them, really, but it’s still something that calls for a celebration where everyone is invited. By everyone, Mark means literally the equivalent of half the city. Even after living for 270 years, there are people Mark don’t know at the party. The only familiar faces are the rest of his clan and Jeno’s coven who all left their house for the occasion.

 

He’s lost sight of Jeno a while ago in the crowd, but it doesn’t really matter. Jeno knows his way around the house already and the guests know he’s off limit. They’re supplying people with blood bags anyway, so they have no reason to feed on anyone attending. Jisung and Renjun are sitting on one of the living room couch, discussing… not really discussing anything. Mark looks away so he doesn’t have to see two of his friends making out in the middle of his house. In the kitchen, there’s Xiaojun and Donghyuck looking over the fountain of punch, most likely casting a spell. Mark just hopes it’s nothing like that one time they decided to put salt and ketchup in Mark’s blood bags ― he hates ketchup. The backyard is illuminated by bursts of colours, almost like fireworks, except they did not buy any fireworks. If Mark concentrates enough to isolate the sound of voices from the rest of the noise in the house, he can hear Chenle and Xuxi giggling. Whatever they are doing, the vampire decides to leave it alone for another clan member to take care of. Even after going around the whole house, Mark still can’t find Jeno. The only place left is the basement.

 

Thankfully, he does find Jeno in their cellar. Unfortunately, that’s when he notices that he smells different. Jeno smells like he had been sipping on every bottle they kept, a mix of bourbon, whiskey and scotch. Even from a distance, Mark can tell that Jeno is a bit tipsy and the closer he gets, the more intoxicating the aroma is. All Mark can think about is how long it has been since he’s tasted alcohol and he’s jealous of how easy it is for his boyfriend. The blood centers have strict rules: no alcohol, no drugs, no medications. Every blood donor has to be 100% clean when they enter and vampires usually get the same donor every time because the donor’s body gets used to the venom and the bite doesn’t hurt as much. Mark just hasn’t had the opportunity to get drunk in a while. It’s just something he misses a lot from his mortal life.

 

Mark doesn’t even notice himself inching closer to Jeno until he has his arms wrapped tightly around Jeno’s waist and his lips on his pulse. The rest is just a blur. Bits and pieces come to him at times, but the whole thing is like an out-of-body experience. At one point he feels Jeno’s body go slack against his chest and his hold tighten on his boyfriend and suddenly they’re being ripped apart.

 

Mark only comes down from his high when he notices Taeil and Taeyong bringing Jeno’s _lifeless_ body upstairs. Jaehyun and Johnny are each holding one of his arms, Doyoung and Yuta are standing between them and the other two. Mark’s brain can’t make sense of what just happened, but there’s blood everywhere: on the floor, on Jeno and, when Mark looks down, on himself too. It doesn’t take long for the dots to connect in his mind.

 

He broke his promise. He hurt Jeno.

 

It’s the first time he regrets something.

 

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

 

At first, Mark doesn’t want to visit Jeno at all. He feels guilty for losing himself like that. Jeno is hurt because of him. It’s his fault.

 

They put Jeno in a room close to Mark’s so that when he wakes up, Mark will be close enough. _If_ he wakes up. The others are hopeful, but Mark can’t help but feel like he just ruined his boyfriend’s life.

 

They’ve talked about this so many times and it wasn’t supposed to happen at all, much less happen like that. What did he do? There’s this feeling in the pit of his stomach, that same feeling he had when he accidentally broke Jaehyun’s typewriter in 1943, except it’s much, much worse now.

 

It’s been a week already and Jeno hasn’t woken up yet. There’s not a lot of chances that he’ll ever wake up at this point. He doesn’t want to be there to witness Jeno slowly losing his battle to the venom that’s taking over his body. If only he had controlled himself. He could have even asked someone else to bite Jeno if that’s what he really wanted. He could have asked Jaehyun. After all, he did it with Jungwoo, he knows how it works. Jungwoo woke up after 3 days and Jeno… Well, it’s all his fault. The others tried to convince him to at least go say ‘hi’ to Jeno, just spend a couple of minutes with him, but Mark refused to move. The rest of Jeno’s coven visited him occasionally, and they even took the time to come to Mark just to tell him they’re not angry.

 

He wants to sink into his bed and disappear. He doesn’t want to think about Jeno in the room next to him, lifeless and cold to the touch, when his best memories are of them cuddling together in bed, all warm and cozy. Mark can hear everything, but there’s nothing going on right now. The whole house is silent. There are no footsteps, no voices, which is a surprise considering he’s living with seven other boys. It’s actually kind of nice, the fact that he’s finally alone for the first time in what seems like forever. But then he remembers Jeno next door and when he can’t hear anything, it makes him even sadder. He can’t hear Jeno’s heart beating or his breathing.

 

Jeno is dead. _Jeno is dead._

 

_Dead._

 

There’s nothing else on his mind, just _death death death._ He killed Jeno. It’s all his fault.

 

His mind is so stuck on the fact, that he can barely hear the whisper coming from the room next door.

 

It’s soft and weak, and Mark doesn’t understand what’s going on. It can’t be Jeno because he _killed_ him.

 

Getting out of bed proves harder than it should. Mark has to drag himself out. He’s weak too and it’s hard to move his body when he hasn’t fed in a week, but he manages to walk all the way to the room where they installed Jeno.

 

Mark doesn’t want to admit it, but he’s thought about what awaits him behind the door of Jeno’s room. Jeno is probably laying in that bed, lifeless as he expects him too, looking as pale as the rest of Mark’s clan. The curtains must be closed to let no light in so that if Jeno awakes, he won’t burn to dust right away. He expects him to look like he’s sleeping, peaceful and unbothered.

 

What he doesn’t expect is to see Jeno sitting in bed, trying to push the covers away from his body with the little force he has left.

 

Mark can’t believe it. He didn’t kill Jeno.

 

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

 

Everything is going fine, better than expected really. Jeno transitioned smoothly from his human life to his vampire one and it surprises everyone. His first drink was just a couple of minutes after Mark found him trying to get up. He got his sun protection tattoo the day after he was able to leave the bed. They celebrated together with Jeno’s coven and Mark clings to Jeno the whole night. Things are going so well for both of them so far that no one really realizes that Jeno is still a newborn vampire and newborn means the worst part of the transformation: teething.

 

This is when the second wave of regrets hits him.

 

Jeno is nothing short of a nightmare when it comes to teething. He sighs just to get everyone’s attention and when any of them look at him, he pouts before complaining about how much his jaw hurts. There’s nothing any of them can do really. Except… Jungwoo had this amazing idea to buy Jeno a little ‘gift’ for his first transformation birthday and none of the boys in the house actually appreciate it. It almost makes them miss Jeno’s complaining.

 

Today’s first instance is when Yuta screams at Mark from the kitchen, “Mark, can you please get your dog? He’s chewing on his bone again and I’m trying to concentrate.”

 

Mark rushes downstairs to find Jeno sitting at the kitchen island, with his face hidden by a new book about dreams. If the book wasn’t a dead giveaway, the sound coming from behind it definitely was.

 

“Jeno!” Mark’s boyfriend looks up from his reading, and if he wasn’t so annoyed by the sound Jeno was making, he definitely would just grab his face and kiss him, “You’re squeaking again.”

 

Jeno just tilts his head in confusion, making another squeak, before he realizes what Mark means. He quickly lets go of the dog toy he was munching on before looking at Yuta and his boyfriend sheepishly, “Sorry, I forget it makes a lot of noise. I just don’t hear it anymore.”

 

Yuta scowls before turning back to his vegetables ― no doubt he’s trying to impress Kun with a new recipe ― and muttering to himself about how he really hates Jungwoo and his ideas right now.

 

“Come on, you can squeak in our room,” Mark extends his hand to Jeno and they make their way to their room. The coven finally let Jeno move in after his transformation even though he had been spending more than half of his time over.

 

“I don’t want to read anymore, can we cuddle?” Mark looks back at his boyfriend who’s making puppy eyes at him and there’s no way he can say no so he tugs him to the bed before bringing him closer.

 

Jeno makes himself comfortable with his head on Mark’s shoulder. Before Mark knows it, Jeno starts biting at his collarbone, his teeth are not sharp enough to break his skin yet, but it will leave a mark for sure. Mark doesn’t say anything and lets him do his own thing because it’s better than having him go around chewing on a dog toy. Eventually, he falls asleep, glad that he’s still able to spend time with Jeno. He might have broken his promise, but he gained a partner for the rest of his life.

 

And that’s definitely not something he regrets.

 

(When he wakes up, Jeno is looking up at him with a small smile and sparkling eyes, “I was in your dream last night and―”

Mark starts protesting, “But vampires ―”

 

“― and who knew vampires could dream? Well, I’ve been reading about it and apparently, vampires actually do dream, they just can’t remember it! How exciting is that?”

 

“So what did I dream about?” Mark couldn’t hide his curiosity.

 

Jeno giggles a bit to himself, “You and I, adopting a cat named Robert Alexander the third. It was so cute! Mark, can we adopt a cat? Please?”

 

His boyfriend is making the puppy eyes again and Mark can’t say no. He’ll never be able to say no.)


End file.
